Slashdot Mirror

The 3DS is a 2011-2012 handheld with a 266MHz processor that's slower than my desktop computer was in the mid-90s. You can argue battery life, but the PSP from 2004 has a faster processor inside of it.

The PSP has a 333 MHz MIPS CPU underclocked to 222 MHz. Later firmware versions expose a function to max the clock, but full speed operation interferes with Wi-Fi.

So if PCs don't get faster by 2040, then he may be right.

How long have PCs been stuck at 2000 to 3000 MHz, just adding core after core?

Games are good for your eyesight, social life, physical health, learning, stress, language skills and economy, among other things.

Oh, and gaming addiction is mostly bunk.

IMO Sony *never* supported the Open Source community with either the PS2 or PS3 to benefit the community... I would say that Sony was using the Open Source community to attempt to give themselves financial gain (50 million Euros to be exact).

Why sould I say such things? Well... up until late June 2006, Sony was fighting a legal battle with the EU to get a customs rebate (worth 50 million Euros) on its PS2's since Sony claimed that they were "computers" not "video game consoles" and I would suppose that the ability to install a third party OS was a major part of their argument. The distinction was important because up until 2004, the EU didn't have any import duties on computers, but did on game consoles... So I would surmise that if Sony did not include the same "computer" capability on their PS3 to install a third part OS, it would weaken their claim that the PS2 was a computer. Since the verdict was handed down so close to the PS3 release date, IMHO Sony probably decided to leave the third party OS support in anyways just in case they could appeal the decision.

Fast forward to 2009, when no appeals are possible in the PS2 customs case, Sony has no reason to keep the third party OS support in the PS3 and removes it when the next hardware major revision came out and a plausible "face saving" explanation for the removal is possible. (Sony still is a Japanese company, so a "face saving" explanation is important... if it were MSFT, they would have dropped the support the second that any chance of appeal was not possible. ;-))

News Article About the PS2 Customs Decision: http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/features/uk-court-ps2-not-a-computer/69084/?biz=1

seriously?

lets look back in time, shall we?

in 2006. from EA. they claimed their design studio saw failure rates of 30-50%

http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/features/microsoft-admits-to-higher-failure-rate-with-x360-launch-units/69469/?biz=1

an EA employee claimed that the failure rate of Xbox 360 consoles at his studio was in the range of 30 to 50 percent, although MS denied this account. And more recently, we heard from another video game studio (that wished to remain anonymous) claiming that out of about 200 Xbox 360s, roughly 35 percent had died.

in Sept 2008. Game Daily reported that a journalist and author, Dean Takahashi, was reporting failure rates as high as 68%

http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/news/report-xbox-360-failure-rate-was-as-high-as-68/?biz=1

Incredibly, 68 out of every 100 Xbox 360s made by Microsoft's Chinese manufacturing partners were not working properly. Even more unbelievable is that when the first batch of the console's three-core CPUs was produced, a woeful 16 percent were functional.

seriously?

lets look back in time, shall we?

in 2006. from EA. they claimed their design studio saw failure rates of 30-50%

http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/features/microsoft-admits-to-higher-failure-rate-with-x360-launch-units/69469/?biz=1

an EA employee claimed that the failure rate of Xbox 360 consoles at his studio was in the range of 30 to 50 percent, although MS denied this account. And more recently, we heard from another video game studio (that wished to remain anonymous) claiming that out of about 200 Xbox 360s, roughly 35 percent had died.

in Sept 2008. Game Daily reported that a journalist and author, Dean Takahashi, was reporting failure rates as high as 68%

http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/news/report-xbox-360-failure-rate-was-as-high-as-68/?biz=1

Incredibly, 68 out of every 100 Xbox 360s made by Microsoft's Chinese manufacturing partners were not working properly. Even more unbelievable is that when the first batch of the console's three-core CPUs was produced, a woeful 16 percent were functional.

All the women I've talked to have little interest in games and look at me as if I'm strange (about the same look when I discuss Star Trek). Just from observation, it appears the videogaming is dominated by 95% men with just a few gals scattered here-and-there... like it's always been.

Surveys of your friends does not make accurate data. I'm a girl gamer and all of my female friends play games, but I don't go around saying 100% of women in general play games. Though I doubt it could just be that I happen to only be friends w/ the "5%" - someone has to be buying all those Hannah Montana and nintendogs ripoffs on DS, and I doubt it's men/boys.

There's been a number of studies over years showing that women gamers are a sizable group and growing. Here's one example: Women Gamers Outnumber Men in 25-34 Age Group. Really, you're kinda out of the loop here, thinking that maybe 5% of gamers are women.

Bitch all you want about the fact the console fails, the fact it inconveniences you for maybe a few days in 2 to 3 years is really not a big deal when it keeps you coming back the rest of the time.

Well, Microsoft's never really competed on quality before. They just work on being the lowest-cost provider, and it's worked out pretty well. You might be right. For me, $200 is a bit more than I want to pay for something 'disposable', but there's no denying they've sold a bunch of 360s.

the 360 is... increasing it's lead week on week on the PS3 quite well right now

When you look at the actual sales slopes, and count the fact that a significant number of 360 sales are people buying a new console 'cause their old one died out of warranty or for issues that aren't covered by the warranty extension, that doesn't seem to be the case. The 360 has a significant head start, but it seems to basically be maintaining its lead rather than pulling further ahead.

Those replacement sales are good for MS, of course. Not so good for 360 users, though. But the business model seems to be working; we'll see if that's good for consumers down the road.

Microsoft have a quality console under their belts. Despite it's ponderous bulk, the original Xbox was a reliable console.

The OP's point was the original Xbox was designed using off the shelf components thus it suffers from fewer defects as MS did not have to design or spec out as much as they did with the 360.

Now that same company comes out and produces the 360 with its notoriously high failure rate. And it's wasn't down to the complexity of the design. The red ring of death was due to parts and material failures. Scratched discs were again down to a substandard component. Now we have a loose video chip problem.

In the red ring of death, failure has been blamed on the graphics chip overheating. MS chose not to use an ASIC vendor to save money and designed the chip and assembly themselves. The chip overheating has been attributed to how it was soldered onto the board using cold solder joints (a design choice). This probably may have been exacerbated by the lack of adequate airflow and the inadequate heat sink size (both design choices). After the initial problems, MS went to an ASIC vendor and redesigned the chip to dissipate less heat. I'd call that a design failure.

As for the scratched discs, the only that MS could have done differently was to watch their suppliers and components more closely.

This is NOT down to design. These issues are trivial to fix if only Microsoft was willing to pay the money. The fact is, they're not. These errors all exist because Microsoft is cutting costs across the board on 360 manufacturing. For every error that is found, you can be sure that three more lurk beneath the surface as a result of substandard parts, components and assembly line procedures.

That might be true if more problems occurred as the Xbox 360 got older but these problems occurred when the Xbox 360 was launched and MS was throwing lots of money into the program. The truth of the matter is that MS cared more about beating Sony out to market with a product than getting out a quality product. There were reports that the failure rate at the the factory was 68%.

The reason is clear. Despite their deep pockets, Microsoft are not willing to make the kind of losses everyone assumes they can make with the 360. But they still want a lower price point.

The lower point is because they now have to compete with Nintendo. If Sony and MS were the only two competitors, their consoles would still be priced pretty high. However, Nintendo coming in with their cheaper console has changed the market even though Sony and MS don't want to admit they are competing with Nintendo.

How much?

As others have posted, about $50, see source. This was in september 2007, and I can hardly imagine that production costs would have increased since then (to the contrary..) The price of the Wii is however still $/EUR 250 worldwide.

The reason I ask is because it's unusual.

It is. Good job for them, especially as compared to Microsoft where the total losses in the X-box division likely run into the 11-digit range by now; see here and here, and note that this is even before the infamous $2B "red ring of death" recall.

Google it my friend, It's not hard. Here's a quick search. Would you care to back up why being lazy is acceptable... ;) http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=Wii+%2B+development+cost&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

Read this article about how the Wii costs about half the price of the other toys to develop for, it's fun:
http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/features/cost-of-development-greatly-favors-wii-say-publishers/69714/

There's nothing marginal about 50%+ less for Wii dev cost.

And $2000 for a SDK is not an arm an a leg. Here's another link to save you the aggravation of searching:
http://www.warioworld.com/apply/wii.html

As noted by the other response to your post, the Wii shares many similarities to its predecessor, which make it easier and cheaper to develop for, especially for the studios that put their time in on the Cube. And just to clear something up, there's nothing last-gen about a Wii's performance or the tech it uses, which is 6 years more advanced.

A publisher doesn't need to sell nearly as many units on a Wii as it does on the PS3 or 360 in order to see a return on their investment. This this is do to the lower development cost and simpler hardware configuration. **Namco stated that it needs to sell 500,000 PS3 games to make a profit as an example. Compare this to 165,000, which is what I've read is needed for the Wii.
** http://www.gamespot.com/news/6162509.html

So just because a game sells more units on a 360 as an example, that doesn't mean it has made a profit for its publisher/developer. With the Wii's HUGE user base for its relatively short life on the market along with its "significantly" lower development cost, publishers/developers have a better chance of seeing a profit on a Wii game than the PS3 or 360.

OMG!! I'm using this 12 year old kid term, because you used HARDCORN -- now I must rant. First off, let me present you with a link that disproves your myth that kids that like to aim with their thumb and deem blood as mature, buy more games. The supposed hardcore gamer is a joke. I've been gaming since the age of pong. There's nothing hardcore about most console gamers, since they're used to games that have generally been dumbed down do to the limiting nature of a gamepad. Compared to the games I played in the eighties and ninteies, games now days are a walk in the park. Sure, they look way better, but they're way less sophisticated... I loved the complexity that is SYSTEM SHOCK, I hated the simpleton that is BioShock.

Anway, here's the link, read fact number "4."
http://www.theesa.com/facts/top_10_facts.php
The average age of the most frequent game buyer is 38 years old. In 2007, 92 percent of computer game buyers and 80 percent of console game buyers were over the age of 18.

Also notice that the average gamer is age 33, not the teenage kid publishers have been marketing to for the past 8 years, so guys hat are in their twenties now. ;) :p

Kids won't have access to a flash cart -- unless they have parents like my friends. Guys my age buy our games and on that note, buy your DS games you pirate! :p

<]=)

No, the whole video game industry makes more $$$ per year than Hollywood. Most of that in on consoles and handhelds.

Here's an article with some numbers for 2006: http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/features/npd-pc-games-bring-industry-to-135-billion-in-2006/69941/?biz=1

I would LOVE to see someone put actual real statistics to this thought process!

Now, about those real statistics.... anyone?

Linux market share reported as: 0.65% to 1.34%

http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=9

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070903-linux-marketshare-set-to-surpass-windows-98.html

While it may appear that Windows has a larger market share, consider the following quote,

From GameDaily,
"PC gaming is in a weird position right now. Now, 60% of PCs on the market don't have a workable graphics processor at all. All the Intel integrated graphics are still incapable of running any modern games. So you really have to buy a PC knowing that you're going to play games in order to avoid being stuck with integrated graphics. This is unfortunate, and this is one of main reasons behind the decline of the PC as a gaming platform," he said. "That really has endangered high-end PC game sales. In the past, if you bought a game, it would at least work. It might not have been a great experience, but it would always work." - http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/news/epic-ceo-pcs-arent-good-for-gaming/?biz=1

So, Windows may have a larger market share in the PC desktop market, but only 40% of them can even play a game and even less of those can play a modern game.

You idea of actual statistics are flawed, but I like the way you were headed.

Ironically, I was just reading this article, that describes Super Mario Galaxy's coaster mode which looks like it is geared toward playing the game cooperatively with younger children.

Remember that a Nintendo representative said that a new version of the Wii will be hitting store shelves sometime soon. So there will be a DVD playback Wii and a non DVD Wii.

Wow.... just wow. The Wii's success is a blessing? I would say that's more of a curse, as Nintendo is not only making money on software sales, but on hardware sales as well. How much money is the 360 bringing in? Not as much, seeing as how the 360 is not going to be profitable until 2008. (And this is despite shipping and selling almost a year ahead of time)

And with 8.19 Million units sold vs. the 360's 6.72 million units sold I think it's a little easier to tell who the winner is.

Console mods for the 360 may be successful, but they're also being blocked from the main reason for having a 360.


I hate responding to trolls like you, but come-freaking-on. Does it hurt to lie through your teeth like that?

PC games:
[77,374] Bioshock - 2K Games
[49,126] World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Expansion Pack - Vivendi

Consoles:
[896,592] Madden NFL 08 - Xbox 360 - Electronic Arts
[643,617] Madden NFL 08 - Playstation 2 - Electronic Arts
[490,910] BioShock - Xbox 360 - 2K Games
[336,189] Madden NFL 08 - Playstation 3 - Electronic Arts
[256,781] Play With Remote - Wii - Nintendo of America

That's an interesting theory, but it would seem to be one you pulled deep from your nether regions. If you would have read the link you would see that it's because Wii development doesn't require much over Gamecube development so the existing tools and technology from the Gamecube can be reused. This can be correlated by many other developers:

THQ and Ubisoft

Majesco

Sega

Probably more, and I think EA is mentioned in there too, but that was a quick look.

If you thought his movies were bad just wait until you play the video game.

I can't find the original interview from early in the year where I read someone from Rockstar saying that, but here are some supporting links.

Sony seems to be getting stupider and stupider. I don't know what the holy hell is going over there but I am sure that all of the execs at Sony have lost their mids COMPLETELY. Here it is folks. This $499.99 price tag? Just a clearance of the 60 GB model which is now going out of production. At that point all the 60 GB models will be for sale until they are all gone. Then it is back to $599.99 for the 80 GB model. make of it what you will. I am mystified and rather pissed at these game they seem to be playing with us. Is this Stringers doing? WTF is going on? Here is the link from Gamespot and Game Daily: Gamespot: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6175011.html?om_act=c onvert&om_clk=newstop&tag=newstop;title;2 Game Daily: http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=1679 1 This bullshit pure and simple.

Good thing nobody pirates video games or those guys would be going out of business too!

Good thing nobody pirates video games or those guys would be going out of business too!

I would probably feel worse if Immersion Corp wasn't a patent troll, claiming that a rumble function violates their patent on haptic technology. If haptic technology is novel and non-obvious (patent-worthy), and if rumble technology is any part of haptic technology, then clearly it is a novel and non-obvious implementation thereof. Sounds like a keyboard patent holder suing a mouse manufacturer for infringement because they're both input mechanisms. But what do I know.. IANAL.

Actually, we already have confirmation of a DVD-enabled Wii version for the second half of this year (got the link from Wikipedia).

For Metroid fans, it does indeed look like Samus will have to wait until 2007.

For Metroid fans, it does indeed look like Samus will have to wait until 2008.

Thus far, Nintendo hasn't announced an official release date for Metroid Prime 3, so we're thinking that it's going to slip into 2007, particularly because the company doesn't want to release too many franchise games during the Wii's 2006 launch.

• July 30 - Mario Strikers Charged Nintendo
  
• Aug. 20 - Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
  
• September - Battalion Wars 2
  

That really is a shame, the device is rock solid stable for me and the build quality is great. We just need the games.


Also, the numbers presented there are wrong: [ gamedaily.com ]

[The move] probably [had] more to do with software and the PSP than with the PS3

I hope you get diarrhea tonight.

I hope you roast in hell, scumbag.

Even if you are correct, the facts here don't help him either. Like the example I cited, this was content included in the game but not accessible by normal means of game play. A modder did not create these art files and include them with their mod - they used what was already in the game. And, no one was sued for all they were worth - they simply had to change their ESRB rating to reflect was actually included with the game. Where is the problem here?

No he isn't talking about Hot Coffee. He's talking about Oblivion (also published by Take2, http://www.2kgames.com/index.php?p=games&title=obl ivion&platform=PC) which did get hit by this. Someone altered the models to let them appear nude, and as a result the game's rating was changed. All this on a game that came with an editor and encouraged modding. http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=1260 4 for an old link to this story.

*One Year Ago*

"How can the Revolution sell without HD visuals?"
"There will be a new version released two years later. Just like how Nintendo puts out new versions of its handhelds."
"And what about that motion controller?"
"You cannot sell a console just on teh strength of a controller! Nintendo is just being desperate."

Bill Gates would say: http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3151063

"There's room for innovation here, but moving that controller around -- it's something that's not mainstream for most games. It's tough because sometimes you move the controller, and you don't [mean] to fly into the ground. You just want to put the controller down. People aren't that good at totally standing still. Even pilots actually sit in a chair when they do their flying."

**One Year Later**

"Microsoft! Are you going to copy the Wii's controller?"
"Eh? Uh? We dunno! We are looking into it."
"So what else are you going to do?"
"Well, we have this new Elite model Xbox 360 for you to buy! Putting out new hardware is fun!"
Someone comes in and says, "Damn it, Nintendo! Make more Wiis! I can't find them anywhere!"

Bill Gates says: http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=1492 0&ncid=AOLGAM000500000000010

"Nintendo is our competition!"

Can we now admit that Nintendo made some very smart business moves with the Wii without being called "zOMG fAnBOy!!1!"? It is not so much that Wiis are outselling the other systems, but that the Wii is making profit while doing it. Where are the game journalists and 'analysts' who were proclaiming 'Revolution' would sell only around ten million units in its lifetime? Where are the people who poo-poohed the Wii's controller at the beginning? Oh, that's right. When Nintendo succeeds, the goal posts are moved further back. They began saying, "Is it a gimmick?" to "Is it a fad?" to "It is only selling because it is cheap!" After the DS did its magic, these same fools said, "This success we will never see again!" Then comes the Wii that is selling even stronger.

Nintendo went from a 'lose, lose' situation to a 'win, win'. Microsoft wondering whether or not to put in motion controls is a sign that a revolution is occuring. I bet that Microsoft's next system (along with the controller) imitates the Wii as best it can.

Pardon my enthusiasm for this title, but Puzzle Quest is everything it was hyped to be and then some. It's currently my favorite game on the PSP, and I don't see it getting dethroned any time soon.

Give it a try for some seriously fun and addictive hand-held gaming goodness. There's even a PC demo if you want to try before you buy.

So I was feeling really happy that Nintendo was doing well, given their maxim (all about gameplay and fun, not graphics). But has anyone else been a little disappointed with the lineup of games? I'm excluding a few Nintendo titles here, but it feels like the vast majority of the games have been less-than-stellar ports or mini-game compilations. While mini-games can be really fun, I also want a rich experience from more complex games.

In Perrin Kaplan's recent GameDaily interview, she was asked about Nintendo's anemic Q1 lineup, a question which she simply responded that the 27 products they have going from January to June are awesome. She insists that Nintendo is competing for a different market, and I'm starting to believe her.

Something else that bugs me... the Wiimote isn't quite what is was hyped up to be. There is a little lag (at least in Wii Sports and Wii Play) between my movements and the response on screen; it's very small, but it felt a little annoying when the tennis racket only began swinging a little after I began. Also, it would be nice if the Wiimote actually pointed on screen where you pointed -- this would require some level of calibration, I suppose, since television sizes vary. I imagine this is even more difficult to deal with since the Wiimote only has two reference points for its calculations -- not the three that are necessary to yield the three coordinates in space. But this is why they market they Wiimote as detecting motion in 3D space, rather than position. It then probably gets the relative position by integration. I wonder if the lag would be reduced further by having a third point and eliminating the integration calculation (though I guess games would still be interested in your projected position anyway, so perhaps it wouldn't actually eliminate it).

Anyway, kudos to Nintendo for the sales, but I hope there is more in store for the core gamer soon.

BTW, a more thorough review of his talk is here, which seems a bit different than the other article represents it as.

I think it's important to note that no matter what your platform of choice is, an intelligent multi-platform release strategy can definitely help offset development costs or simply pad your war chests. I can see how declining PC income could add incentive to look into alternative income streams, and the console market is a great way to do that (with an intelligently created port strategy). Something had opened their eyes a bit, and this drove them to find things they probably should have been doing anyway with or without piracy.

And perhaps ID is in shock about Doom III and Quake IV's numbers, whatever they are. They were not the culture-smashing phenomenons that ID has created in the past, and quite frankly with good reason: ID's previous games were extensions of the company's strengths into new realms that nobody else was occupying. When Wolfenstein first came out, they were basically standing alone. Nobody had created anything remotely Doom-like before Doom. When Quake III came out, the concept of a tournament FPS was completely unknown. And when Doom 3 came out it was... an above-average game which received above average sales. And Quake IV was probably much below that, judging by the discount curve. That quick of a change will send any developer into shock.

And yes, piracy is a much larger problem on PC's than on consoles. The "50% of sales are lost to piracy" number is a bit ludicrous, but I'd be willing to believe that 50% of all retail games installed on PC's are pirated. The usual piracy protection schemes out there are both easily broken and increasingly intrusive, and with game prices as astronomical as they are the incentive to pirate remains high for many in the that medium's target demographic.

And there are a few games I've worked on that I'm happy to see pirated. At least then SOMEBODY played them.

http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/myturn/?id=13861

Nintendo did it first.

And seriously, "game controllers and other devices to vibrate in response to certain events that happen during a game" - how hard is it to think of that? Cellphones, pagers and vibrators were already vibrating in response to certain events. It's a patent that didn't require much to think of, and should never have been awarded.

BIZ: A lot of gamers, including myself, enjoy the controller's motion sensing at times, but we still miss rumble. If gamers want it and are vocal enough, will Sony reintroduce the force feedback at some point?

PH: We have no plans to do so in the standard controller that ships with PlayStation 3. I believe that the Sixaxis controller offers game designers and developers far more opportunity for future innovation than rumble ever did. Now, rumble I think was the last generation feature; it's not the next-generation feature. I think motion sensitivity is. And we don't see the need to do that. Having said that, there will be specific game function controllers, potentially like steering wheels that do include vibration or feedback function--not from us but from third parties.

http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=1534 2&ncid=AOLGAM000500000000026

Actually, EA has multiple projects in the pipeline for XBLA, according to this article (4th paragraph, starting from the end).

And dammit people, you haven't even seen a screenshot yet and you are already making comparisons to DDR or saying it's a rippof from another game. Just because it's EA doesn't mean it's going to suck. That brief description alone got me interrested in the game.

But all the information in the current world does not support these predictions:

1. Sony loses a few more high profile exclusives ... http://www.gwn.com/news/story.php/id/10792/

2. POSSIBLE Microsoft XBox 360 Price Cuts http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=1335 1

3. eBay shows slow demand for ebay crash in PS3 Prices http://www.gamespot.com/news/6162338.html

Couldn't it be possible that Lik Sang is just taking advantage of negative Sony feedback over the past year to send another f-u to Sony? I find it hard to believe they'd be put out of business over this single issue, and the whole time not point any blame at the quasi grey market business that they were operating under.

Microsoft today announced its first quarter results for the period ended September 30, revealing revenue of $10.81 billion (up 11 percent) and net income of $3.48 billion (up from $3.14 billion last year). More importantly from a gaming perspective, Microsoft revealed that it's now achieved worldwide Xbox 360 sales of 6 million units. The company previously mentioned that it had sold 5 million through June and expects to sell 10 million by the end of 2006.

The company's Entertainment and Devices division, formerly the Home and Entertainment unit, experienced 70 percent revenue growth year-over-year "driven by demand for Xbox 360 consoles, software, peripherals, and Xbox Live." The division posted $1.03 billion in revenue and an operating loss of $96 million, slightly narrowed from last year's loss of $173 million during the same period.

Well, I bought The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion the other day - the first computer game I've bought for myself in a few years. Of course, I didn't purchase it from Wal-Mart, even though they had 4 copies the last time I was dragged there. :)

You may recall that Oblivion's ESRB rating was increased from "T" to "M" a few months ago (see here)...

If your statement above is true (If your rating is changed after the release, and Walmart pulls every single copy of your game off their shelves and sends them all back to you (at your expense)), then I'm that much more glad to have purchased my copy of Oblivion from a different retailer.

http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/21/ 1915249

Maybe also this one?

http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=1388 2

I'm sure there will be alot of comments about the uselessness of force feedback. But before jumping to conclusions, check out the company's release of their next-generation force feedback a couple months ago, which they are no doubt trying to get into the current consoles. http://www.gamedaily.com/features/?id=1039 "The effect is satisfying, yet it doesn't come close to capturing actual gunfire or explosions, partly because it takes time for these motors to build up speed. But this single, next-generation motor is not only capable of spinning in multiple directions, but it can stop on a dime and is generally much stronger than its predecessors. The result is a richer, more intense experience that will further immerse us in these upcoming games. To demo this, Immersion had me play a couple of PlayStation 2 games using the standard DualShock, those being EA's Medal of Honor: Frontline and Sony's Gran Turismo 4. Employees encouraged me to fire my character's guns and rev my car's engines, and things happened and felt as they should. But then we moved onto LucasArts' Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast for the PC. The game had been specially rigged to work with this next-gen vibration, and the moment the tester pulled out his character's light saber I was blown away. Unlike in previous Star Wars games, where a controller will output the same level of rumble no matter what's going on, there's varying degrees of it, from when the light saber's powered on, to when its cutting things up and to when it's not being used at all, whereupon which the controller provides a very satisfying "hum". And the vibrations don't stop until the weapon's put away. Furthermore, gunfire is just a lot more intense. Not only does each weapon (blaster pistol, cross bow, disrupter rifle) feel different, but the kick back is superb. The difference between this technology and previous controllers is akin to making the jump from the original Resident Evil on PSOne to Resident Evil 4. It's just in stark contrast to what I've been used to."

It's not chicken and egg at all - Apple have stated that they are not and do not intend to be a serious platform for games. They don't help game development at all, and don't intend to.

I think you're working from some very old data. In the late eighties and early nineties, Apple somewhat misguidedly tried to bolster its reputation in the business market by discarding the "toy" image and not encouraging game development. However, once their market share began to seriously tank in the mid/late nineties, Apple "got religion" about games and realized how important they were to keeping their users happy.

After that, Apple hired a series of people as "Games Partnership Managers" to reach out to the game developer community. Apple has recently been rumored to be adding gaming functionality to the iPod. Apple famously reached out to John Carmack with OpenGL to bring iD games to the Mac. Apple devotes a whole section of their retail stores to games. And, of course, they have made gaming a featured section on their website.

So, I think your assertion about Apple discouraging games was once true but is very much outdated.

It's just that house of MS cultists have been ordered to praise the Wii whenever possible. The true 360 lovers have been encouraging pro-Wii talk whenever it occurs, as they seem to believe anything which hurts Sony is ultimately good for their 360. Microsoft's bloggers hath ordered, and so shall it be.

They should've blamed Runescape, which userbase has topped 9 Millions and has an ever growing title awareness between people.

All these consideration demonstrates that WOW doesn't kill anything, it's just people that are influenced by marketing and media education or that, more probably, Brian Sullivan\Gamasutra\Game Developer were tipped by Blizzard PR & Marketing to say so. Netx time I hope they will see a more suitable period to launch a long & compelling game: not MMOG addicted people get out in the sun on Summer, with or without anything to blame, sales would be low anyway. That was that way since 90s. Only titles that cannot compete for a place in the audience are launched during the summer.

They should have concentrated more to make a real RPG Killer Application, instead of weeping for lost opportunities without any clue.

Come on now, you can't say that without putting the link without the rp on the end.

Information posted here seem to indicate that there will be a hardware solution.
I haven't been following the story, though.

I've wondering how long it will be until there is a "3rd party" "virutal console" to let you play any games you already "own a copy of" on your shiny new "Revolution."